Roaming transport distribution management system

ABSTRACT

A roaming transport distribution management apparatus and method are provided. A controller selects transports within a defined service zone in response to customer transit requests from customer locations or a central hub which are capable of meeting maximum transit time to the end destination in either an inbound or outbound direction from the hub. A hub manager varies the position and/or the size of an exclusive coverage area of each transport within the overall service zone to insure a dense accumulation of transports over the entire service zone and alters the position of other transports in response to the movement of a transport inbound or outbound from the hub with a passenger. The hub manager can vary the size of the exclusive coverage area of each transport to account for population and request call densities and the number of available transports.

CROSS REFERENCE TO CO-PENDING APPLICATION

This application claims priority benefit to the Feb. 10, 2014 filingdate of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/937,880 for ROAMINGTRANSPORT DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM and to the Sep. 19, 2013 filingdate of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/879,737 for ROAMINGTRANSPORT DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, and is a continuation-in- partof co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/563,618, filed on Jul.31, 2012 for URBAN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND METHOD, assigned to theassignee of the present application, which claims priority to U.S.provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/626,123 filed on Sep. 20,2011, the contents of all which are incorporated herein in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND

The present apparatus and method relate to urban transportation systems.

U.S. Patent Publication 2013/0073327 discloses an urban transportationsystem and method, which provides flexible, door-to-door transportationservice between customers within a service area surrounding a node of astation of an urban transportation system, such as a train station,subway station, etc.

In response to a customer request, a transport within a defined servicearea travels to the location of the customer and then transports thecustomer between the pick-up location and the node in the transportationsystem which is the central hub in the service zone. The transportservice request instructions are dynamically determined in real timewith respect to the customer pick-up location, the current location ofthe transport, and a predetermined maximum allowable travel time betweenthe customer pick-up and drop-off at the node.

The predetermined travel time may be calculated for a transport usingthe time that the customer reaches the transit node starting with thetime of the pick-up request from the customer until the time thecustomer reaches the transit node or from the time the customer ispicked up and dropped off at the node. Either time periods define thepredetermined time period essential to efficient operation of thetransit model. For example, if a 15 minute predetermined time period isselected for operation of the transit system, and the first time periodcalculation described above is utilized then the transit system mustrespond to a pick-up request from a customer by directing a transport ata second location within the service area surrounding node to thelocation of the customer, pick-up the customer and then travel by aflexible, real time determined route to the node so that the customerreaches the node within 15 minutes of initiating a pick-up request.

SUMMARY

A roaming transport distribution apparatus and method for servicingcustomer requests for transportation of customers within a service zone.

The method includes operating a plurality of transports in a firstservice zone for transporting customers within the first service zone toand from a first hub and receiving a service request from a firstcustomer at a first location in the first service zone fortransportation of the first customer to and/or from the first hub.

Next, the method locates one transport of the plurality of transports inthe first service zone to answer the service request based on one ormore of the location of the first customer, the location of thetransport, the distance between the two locations, a travel time of thetransport from its location to the customer location, and a travel timeof the transport with the picked-up customer from the first location tothe first hub or from the first hub to another customer destination.

A system manager sends a communication to a transport with a location topick up the first customer. The system manager further sends acommunication to the transport of a travel route from pick up locationof the first customer to a customer drop-off location.

The system manager directs the plurality of transports in the firstservice zone to unequally distributed locations with exclusive coverageareas of the transports which are disposed in a non-overlappingarrangement within the first service zone.

The method can further unequally distribute all of the transports in thefirst service zone based on one of population density, historic requestdensity and traffic conditions, creating an exclusive coverage servicearea about each transport in the first service zone, where the coverageservice areas are disposed in a dynamic arrangement with adjacentexclusive transport service sub-areas, and directing the plurality oftransports in the first service zone to unevenly distributed locationswith non-overlapping coverage areas.

According to the method, after one transport picks up the first customerat the first location, the one transport is removed from roaming in thefirst service zone. The method relocates the position of at least oneother transport in the service zone so that the coverage areas of all ofthe transports are disposed in a dynamic arrangement to insure thepredetermined transit time is met for all areas in the service zone.

In the method, after the one transport picks up the first customer atthe first location and the first transport is removed from roaming inthe first service zone, the size and/or location of the coverage areasof at least one of the transports in the service zone is varied to meetthe predetermined transit time at all locations within the first servicezone.

The method further includes choosing the one transport of the pluralityof transports to answer a service request where the location of thetransport relative to a customer issuing a service request satisfies oneof a minimum wait time of customer pick-up and a less than maximumtransit time of the customer to the customer destination.

The method further includes reinserting a new transport into the firstservice zone and redistributing all of the coverage areas of theplurality of transports in the first service zone to insure distributionof the coverage areas in the first service zone without overlap.

The roaming transportation distribution apparatus includes a systemmanager choosing the one transport of the plurality of transports toanswer a service request where the location of the transport relative toa customer issuing a service request satisfies one of a minimum waittime for customer pick-up and less than a maximum transit time of thecustomer to the customer destination.

The system manager wirelessly communicates travel information to each ofthe transports to optimize travel of a transport from a current locationof the transport to a customer and/or from a customer pick-up locationto a customer drop-off destination.

The system manager in response to removal of a transport from theplurality of transports in a first service zone when the transport isanswering a service request, issues new coordinate information bywireless communication to at least one other transport in the firstservice zone to redistribute the remaining plurality of transports inthe first service zone.

The system manager, executing program instructions, based on currentcoordinate locations of the plurality of transports remaining in roamingin the first service zone, to vary a size of the coverage area of atleast one of the remaining transports to meet transport transit timesassociated with responses to customer requests

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The various features, advantages, and other uses of the presentapparatus and method will become more apparent by referring to thefollowing detailed description and drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a transportation systemproviding transportation service to a service zone around a transitmode;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the delivery of a passenger from a pick-uplocation in one service area to a destination location in anotherservice area according to the method and apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the use of the present method andapparatus over multiple service areas;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the components of theapparatus for implementing the method;

FIG. 5 is a blocked diagram showing the construction of the systemmanager;

FIGS. 6, 7, 8, and 9A-9D are pictorial representations illustrating theoperation of the present apparatus and method to implement distributionof the transport transports within a service area;

FIG. 10 is a pictorial representation of the present method andapparatus implemented in multiple overlapping service areas;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the apparatus andmethod for an inbound request; and

FIGS. 12A and 12B are flow diagrams depicting the operation of theapparatus and method for an outbound request.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts a service zone 100 which surrounds a centrally locatednode 102, which may be a train or subway station or a bus stop in anurban transit or transportation system, or any other transportationsystem having defined locations for transport vehicles to pick-up anddrop off passengers. The node 102 also acts as the central hub 102 ofthe service zone 100.

The service zone 100 is illustrated with multiple sub zones has servicetransports distributed through each of the sub zones to minimize traveltime between the location of the transport, a pick-up location of acustomer requesting a pick-up and the delivery of the customer to theend drop off destination. It is desirable to provide improvement to sucha urban transportation system so as to minimize pick up time as well asmeeting the maximum travel time to the drop off location.

The service zone 100 may be a single large defined area, with a circularservice zone shown by way of example only. It will be understood thatthe service zone 100 may take other shapes, such as polygonal,triangular, oval, etc., depending upon geographic features surroundingthe node 102, population density, service request density and otherfactors.

Further, the service zone 100 is illustrated with concentric sub-zones101, 103, 105 and 107, with four sub-zones shown in FIG. 1 spaced at onemile, two mile, three mile, and four mile radii, respectively, from thecentral hub 102.

Service transports (hereafter “transports”) 104, 106 may be distributedthroughout the sub-zones of the larger service zone 100 to minimizetravel time between the location of the transport 104 and a pick uplocation 111 of a customer 110 initiating a pick-up service request. Thetransports 104, 106 may be any type of transport, such as a car,minivan, bus, SUV, etc.

Each transport 104, 106, etc., has global positioning system (GPS)capability. A GPS transceiver can be mounted in each transport 104, 106for communication with the global positioning satellite network toprovide a central system manager with the current GPS coordinates ofeach transport 104, 106.

Each transport 104 and 106 also has wireless communication capabilitywith the system manager. The wireless communication capability caninclude a cellular network transmitter and receiver mounted in thevehicle for communication between the transport 104, 106 and the systemmanager via a cellular telephone network. Such cellular wirelesscommunication can also be implemented by using the driver's cellulartelephone for direct communication via the cellular network with thesystem manager or through the cellular telephone system of the transport104, 106.

Other forms of wireless communication, including satellitecommunication, etc., can also be employed to transfer data between eachtransport 104, 106 and the central manager.

The overall size of the service zone 100 is selected so thatpredetermined transit time, such as 15 minutes for example, can be metfor all customer pick-up requests at any location within the servicezone 100 to the drop off destination.

Thus, it is possible that, depending upon population density and servicerequest density, as well as geographic features, one service zone 100 ofa plurality of service zones shown in FIG. 3, can have larger or smalleroverall dimensions than that of surrounding service zones.

FIG. 1 shows a travel route 108 taken by a transport 104 picking up afirst customer 110 at a first location 111 and delivering the firstcustomer 110 to the hub 102. It is possible that the transport 104 canpick up a second customer 112 at a second location 114 when transportingthe first customer 110 to the node 102 as long as the predeterminedtransit time period can still be met.

The same predetermined transit time requirement can also apply totransporting a customer 120 from the hub 102 to a second location 122within the service zone 100.

FIG. 2 depicts two service zones 100,130, one surrounding the hub 102,which will be described, for example, as utilizing transports 104 topick-up a customer 109 and transport the customer 109 to the hub 102.From the hub 102, the customer 109 travels along the urban transitsystem 134 to a hub 132 in a second service zone 130. At the second inhub 132 of the second service zone 130, a separate set of transports 136transport the customer to drop off location 138 within the secondservice zone 130.

FIG. 3 depicts multiple service zones, each with a small amount ofoverlap with adjacent service areas arranged in a city or city areaalong urban transit lines.

For operation of the roaming transport distribution management system,each customer or potential customer 400, as shown in FIG. 4, wouldutilize a communication device 402. The communication device 402 may beany communication device, such as a cellular telephone, smartphone,laptop computer, tablet computer, desk-top computer etc., as long as thecommunication device 402 is capable of generating a pick-up request viawireless communication network 404, such as cellular network, to asystem manager 406, also referred to as a server 406, as well as sendingGPS location signals generated by use of a device capable ofcommunication with GPS satellite 408 to identify the pick-up location ofthe customer 400.

Each transport 410 within the service zone 100 will also carry acommunication device 412, such as a computer, a portable computer, acellular telephone, tablet computer, etc., with wireless networkcommunication and GPS communication capabilities.

The server 406, as described hereafter, may be a physical computingdevice with at least one processor, memory, database and wireless andGPS communication capabilities, which communicates with the customers400 and the transports 410 via the wireless communication network 404using GPS location data generated by the communication devices 402 and412 carried by each customer 400 and transport 410.

In general, one customer 400 will generate a pick-up request by using anapplication on his communication device 402 to transmit his GPS locationand the pick-up request through the wireless network 404 to the server406. The pick-up request may identify the customer's name and includeother customer information as well as special instructions, includingtime deadlines, number of passengers, luggage, etc.

In response to a pick-up request from a customer 400, the server 406, asdescribed hereafter, will dynamically select one service transport 410within the service zone 100 which is capable of traveling from thecurrent location of the transport 410 to the location of the customer400, pick up the customer, and then transport the customer along thefastest route to the hub within the predetermined maximum transit timeperiod. This direction of customer 400 travel from a pick-up destinationto the node is referred to as an inbound transport.

For inbound requests, shown in FIG. 11, the server 406 sorts thetransports in the service zone to determine which transport is closestto the customer making the request in step 900. If the the closesttransport to the customer making the request is already at full occupantcapacity, in step 902, then the server 406 advances to check the nextclosest transport in the service zone to the customer making therequest.

Alternately, if the selected transport in step 900 is determined in step902 to not be at full occupant capacity, the server 406 queries if thetransport is roaming in step 904. Roaming is the availability of atransport, either stationarily parked or moving within its definedcoverage area, described hereafter, and available for customertransport. A transport is removed from roaming when a transport isdirected to pick up a customer or is inbound or outbound withcustomer(s) to and from the hub in the service zone.

If the transport is not roaming, the server 406 advances to step 906 toquery if the selected transport 410 is inbound to the hub. If theselected transport is not inbound to the hub as determined in step 906,the server 406 advances to the next closest transport.

Referring back to step 904, if the server 406 determines that theselected transport is roaming, the server 406 determines if the waittime between the time that the customer made the request and the timethat the selected transport 410 will arrive at the location of thecustomer is above a maximum wait time. If yes, the server 406 advancesto select another transport. However, if the determined wait time isbelow the maximum wait time in step 908, the server 406 assigns theselected transport to the customer request in step 910.

Referring again to step 906, if the server 406 determines that thetransport is inbound to the hub, the server in step 912 queries wherethe selected transport will have to move in a direction away from thehub in order to pick up another customer making the current request. Ifthe answer is yes from step 906, the server 406 advances to selectanother transport.

However, if the determination in step 912 is negative, the server 406 instep 914 queries if the selected transport is heading in a directiontoward the same hub as the hub in the current customer request. If not,the server 406 selects another transport to honor the customer request.However, if the determination in step 914 is yes, the server determinesin step 916 if the trip time for the selected transport of the firstcustomer picked up by the transport will exceed the predeterminedtransit time, such as 15 minutes, for example, in step 916 if thetransport picks up the second customer making the current request. Ifthe transit time for the first customer is less than the predeterminedtransit time, such as 15 minutes, from step 916, the server assigns theselected transport to honor the customer request in step 918. However,if the outcome of the query in step 916 is yes, that is, the maximumtransit time would be exceeded, the server 406 advances to selectanother transport to honor the current customer request.

Outbound transportation via transport from the hub is also possibleafter the customer arrives at the hub. For example, the customercommunicates via the wireless network through his communication device402 or other means of communication to the server 406 informing theserver 406 of his expected arrival time at one particular hub, alongwith other customer identification, preferences, etc. The server 406then communicates with the driver of a transport 410 to insure that atransport 410 is at the hub at the time the customer 400 arrives at thehub. The transport 410 then picks up the customer 400 and transports thecustomer 400 to his or her drop off designation within the service zone100. This will be referred to hereafter as an outbound transport.

As shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B, upon receiving an outbound request from acustomer, the server 406 sorts the transports in the service zone todetermine which transport is closest to the hub in step 940. If thefirst selected transport is determined to be roaming in step 942, theserver 406 assigns the selected transport to honor the customer outboundrequest in step 944.

However, if the selected transport 942 is not roaming, the server 406queries if the transport is inbound to the hub with customers in step946. If answer is yes from step 946, the server 406 in step 948 queriesif the outbound capacity of the selected transport has been reached. Ifthe answer to the query in step 948 is yes, the server 406 advances toselect another transport to honor the outbound customer request.

However, if the outcome of the query in step 948 is negative, the server406 determines if the outbound trip time of the selected transport isabove the maximum wait time for the outbound customer request in step950. If the determination is yes, the server 406 advances to selectanother transport. However, if the inbound trip time is below themaximum wait time to honor the outbound customer request, the server 406in step 952 determines if the outbound trip time to the customer'sdestination is greater than the maximum transit time in step 952. If thedetermination is yes, the server 406 advances to select a differenttransport. However, if the outcome of the query in step 952 is negative,the server 406 queries in step 954 if the time between drop offs at thehub and the destination of the outbound customer request is too large.If the determination is yes, the server 406 advances to select adifferent transport. However, if the time between drop offs is not toolarge or is below a preset maximum time, the server 406 will assign aselected transport to honor the outbound customer request in step 956.

Referring back to step 946 in FIG. 12A, if the server 406 determinesthat the transport is not inbound with customers, the server 406 nextchecks if the inbound transport is without customers or is waiting atthe hub in step 958. If this determination is negative, the server 406checks for another transport.

However, if the outcome in step 958 is yes, the server 406 determines ifthe outbound capacity of the selected transport has been reached in step960. If yes, the server 406 searches for another transport. If not, theserver 406 determines in step 962 if the outbound trip time for allpassengers in the transport is greater than the maximum predeterminedtransit time in step 962. If the outcome is yes, the server 406 searchesfor another transport.

However, if the determination in step 962 is negative, the server 406 instep 964 determines if the time between drop off locations of themultiple customers going to different destinations in the same transportis greater than a maximum allowed time. If yes, the server 406 searchesfor a different transport. However, if not, the server 406 assigns thetransport in step 966 to the new request.

The server 406 communicates via the wireless communication network 404with the communication device 412 in the transport 410 and provides thedriver of the transport 410 with the customer location, customerinformation, and other pertinent data. The server 406 also transmitsinformation pertaining to the most expeditious route from location ofthe transport 410 to the first location of the customer 400 and thenfrom the first location to the hub.

Further, the server 406 dynamically repositions the transport 410 withinthe service zone to optimum positions, even when the transport 410 isnot transporting a customer or traveling toward a customer pick-uplocation. This enables the transports 410 within a service zone 100 tobe optimally distributed in a manner responsive to population densityand service request density in order to enable the predetermined maximumtransit period to be met for all customers within a service zone.

The server 406 can dynamically change the location of one or more of thetransports 410 within the service zone 100 at different times of the dayto meet varying service request densities, such as morning rush hour,evening rush hour, afternoon or evening sporting events, etc.

The roaming transport distribution management system, as shown in FIG.5, includes a system manager which may be incorporated into the server406 shown in FIG. 4. The system manager 406 includes a controller, suchas a processor based computing device coupled to a database 504.

It will be understood that the following description of the mainfunctional blocks of the system manager or server 406 may be virtualelements, rather than physical computing devices.

The controller 502 is responsible for creating, deleting, and managingall of the different components of the system manager. The controller502 creates hub monitors 506, which monitor one or more hubs 510 withina particular area. For example, a single hub monitor 506 can monitorfive hubs 510.

The hub monitors 506 gather information necessary for the operation ofthe controller 502. The hub monitors 506 carry out their own threadgathering asynchronously. The hub monitors 506 primarily keep track ofthe location of each hub 510 and the area of coverage of the assignedhub 510.

A hub locator 508 accesses each of the hub monitors 506 to obtaininformation about the hubs 510. When a customer request 512 is receivedby the system manager 406, the controller 502 passes the request to thehub locator 508 which creates a thread and processes the hub informationto determine which hub 510 should receive the request.

The hub locator 508 is coupled to a hub dispatcher 514, which isresponsible for sending the request to a hub, or the hub locator 508 haslocated hub manager 510 after it. A notification manager 516 is providedas part of the system manager 407 to enable communication between thevarious components of the system manager 407. The notification manager516 also enables threads associated with each customer request andcustomer transport to the hub to notify other threads when they havecompleted their tasks. Each thread registers itself with thenotification manager 516.

Each of the components of the system manager 407 registers itself withthe notification manager 516. The hubs 510 also register themselves withthe controller 502, which in turn passes on the hub information to thehub monitors 506. If a hub monitor 506 is at full capacity with thepredetermined number of hubs, the controller 502 will create a new hubmonitor 506. When the system manager 407 receives a request 512, a hublocator 508 thread is created. The hub locator 508 looks at all of thehubs 510 controlled by hub monitors 506 to locate the closest hub 510within a certain predetermined distance range from the customer locationissuing the request 512.

The hub managers 516 controlling each hub 510 include a roamingdistribution transport algorithm for distributing transports within aservice zone surrounding a hub 510 to enable each customer request 512to be accepted and the customer delivered to the hub 510 within thepredetermined maximum time period or window, such as 15 minutes forexample. Even though the illustrated service zone covers concentriccircles up to a four-mile radius, it will be understood that the servicezone, depending upon geographic factors, population density and requestdensity, may have a larger or smaller service area, such as from onemile up to greater than four miles.

Since maintaining all of the transports at the hub 510 would require thetransports to travel a first distance out to the location of a customermaking a request for transport and then retrace the same distance backto the hub, the transports would easily exceed the predetermined transittime period. As such, the transports need to be distributed throughoutthe service zone.

Prior transit applications provide an even distribution of thetransports across the entire service zone. However, this does not takeinto account variations in population density, request density,geographic factor, etc.

The roaming distribution transport algorithm executed by each hubmanager 510 automatically insures that the transports are distributed ina certain manner across the entire service zone so that a customerrequest originating from any location within the service zone can behonored within the predetermined transit time period met.

FIGS. 6-9 depict the service zone 100. Although the service zone 100 isillustrated as having a circular shape, it may have other shapes, suchas rectangular, square, polygonal or an irregular peripheral boundarydepending upon population density, transit request density, geographicfactors, etc. The service zone 100 can have any maximum radius. Thefour-mile radius shown in FIGS. 1-3 may be applied to the service zone100. Alternately, the service zone 100 can represent the one-milesub-zone of the service zone 100 shown in FIGS. 1-3. The service zonecould also apply to the entire area covered by the two-mile radius, thethree-mile radius, or the four-mile radius.

As shown in FIG. 6, each transport is represented by a geometricexclusive coverage area 600, with the circular shaped coverage areashown by way of example only. Each transport is located at approximatelythe center of its coverage area 600 and can be stationary, or movingwithin a small area generally centered within the coverage area 600.

The distribution algorithm eliminates overlaps between the coverageareas 600 of all of the transports within the service zone 100.

In one configuration, all of the transports have the same size exclusivecoverage areas 600 as shown in FIG. 6. The distribution algorithm, whilepreventing overlap between any of the edges of coverage areas 600 of thetransports, is capable of moving each coverage areas 600 includingcoverage areas 600A-600F both radially inward and outward, orcircumferentially, or in any direction (straight, arcuate, zigzag,etc.), as shown by the arrows in FIG. 6, to achieve a transportdistribution which places one transport within range of any customerissuing a request within the service zone 100 to meet the predeterminedmaximum transit time for moving a particular transport from the presentlocation of the transport to the location of the customer issuing therequest, picking up the customer, and then transporting the customer tothe hub 602.

In FIG. 7, the transport in coverage area 600A has moved to pick up acustomer and can be transiting toward the hub 602. As soon as thetransport is assigned a customer request and begins moving toward thelocation of a customer, the hub manager 510 removes the transport 600Afrom roaming, as shown by the gap in FIG. 7 where coverage area 600A ofthe assigned transport has been removed. However, its coverage area 600Acontinues to impact the coverage areas of the remaining roamingtransports.

The roaming distribution transport algorithm then rebalances thelocation of at least one or more of the remaining transports and theirassociated coverage areas 600 by slightly moving one or more of thecoverage area 600 in circumferential, straight, curved, or radialdirections to the distribution shown by example in FIG. 8. The hubmanager 510 for the service zone 100 moves, for example, coverage area600 E radially inward to fill the gap left by the removal of thetransport in coverage area 600A. The arrows in the adjacent coverageareas shows some of the directions that the hub manager 510 can moveeach of the coverage areas.

Any of the adjacent coverage areas 600B, 600C, 600E and 600F and theirassociated transports, can also be moved to a new rebalanceddistribution.

As shown by example in FIG. 9A, three gaps 600H, 600I, and 600J exist inthe service zone coverage areas due to three transports being assignedto customer pick up. It should be noted that these gaps are a momentaryoccurrence and would normally be filled with coverage areas of adjacentlocated transports, such as coverage areas 600L, 600M, and 600N in themanner described above.

FIG. 9B depicts the operation of the hub manager 510 or server 406 inreinserting a transport back into service zone 100 after the transporthas dropped off a customer at the hub 602. In this example, the hubmanager 510 reinserts a transport shown by its coverage area 600K in theinnermost ring of coverage areas surrounding the hub 602. The hubmanager 510 rebalances the location of selected ones or all of thecoverage areas 600A-600M in the service area 100, as shown in FIG. 9B,to accommodate the reinserted transport and its coverage area 600K.

The hub manager 510 operates in a similar manner when a transport hasdropped off a customer at the customer destination at any locationwithin the service zone 100, after transit from the hub 602 or fromanother location within the service zone 100. The hub manager 510 canreinsert the transport, once the customer has been dropped off, at itsthen current location or direct a transport to a different location tofill a gap in the coverage areas within service zone 100.

This minimizes to a certain extent some of the larger gaps at theperimeter of the service zone 100, but large gap areas or open spaces atthe perimeter of the service zone 100 still exist; but should be able tobe covered by the closet transport to meet the maximum predeterminedtransit time.

Referring back to FIG. 9A, three gaps denoted by the removal oftransport coverage areas 600H, 600I, and 600J are shown in service area100. The hub manager 510 and the server 406 can fill these gaps by alsoenlarging coverage areas associated with selected transports in additionto redistributing the coverage areas within the service zone 100. Theenlarged coverage areas 600J, 600L, and 600N still enable customerrequest within the service zone 100 to be met within the predeterminedpickup and/or transit time.

The distribution algorithm also is capable of taking into accountpopulation density variations within the service zone 100, historicrequest density variations within the service zone 100, as well as thecurrent distribution of transports within the service zone 100. Thedistribution algorithm, as shown in FIG. 9D, is capable of initiallyproviding or varying the size, in the case of the coverage areas 600and/or the radius or diameter of each coverage area 600, based on thepopulation or historic request density variations within the servicezone 100.

FIG. 9D shows multiple different diameter sizes of the coverage areas600, with the size corresponding to the area of coverage for aparticular transport located within each coverage area 600. Largerdiameter circles, for example, indicate a larger coverage area for aparticular transport. The smallest diameter circles indicate a smallexclusive coverage area for a particular transport.

As shown in the upper right quadrant of the service zone 100 in FIG. 9,there is a larger density 603 of small diameter coverage areas 600. Thisindicates the high population density or a high historic request densitywithin this area of the service zone 100. Conversely, in the leftquadrant area 605 of the service zone 100, predominately larger sizedcoverage areas 600 are shown. This indicates a larger exclusive coveragearea for each transport and a corresponding smaller number of transportsin this area of service zone 100.

Since higher request density sub-zones of the service zone will havemore customers and therefore more transports removed from the number ofavailable transports, additional transports are provided in such areaswith smaller coverage areas to accommodate all customers and still meetthe predetermined transit time period.

With the variable size indicator capability within the distributionalgorithm, when a particular transport is removed from roamingdistribution since it is transporting a customer to the hub 602, canredistribute and rebalance the remaining available transports by eitherresizing the diameter of the coverage area of one or more transports orby adjusting the position of one or more of the transport coverageareas, or both changing the size of certain coverage areas andrebalancing the position of some or all of the transports and theircoverage areas.

In any of the rebalancing or resizing computations performed by thedistribution algorithm, the hub manager 510 will issue position commandsto the effected transports via the communication network which directthe transports to change the center of their location, either theposition at which they are parked or the center of the position aboutwhich they are roaming to a new position. The algorithm can incorporatea distance tolerance so that the transports are not commanded to moveonly short distances, but commands will be issued only when a moresignificant difference, such as 400 meters for example, is necessary.

The hub manager 510 receives GPS signals from the transports indicatingthe current position of the transports and is therefore capable of bothmonitoring the location of all of the transports within the respectiveservice zone as well as issuing commands for one or more of thetransports to move to different geographic locations.

FIG. 10 depicts a modification to the coverage area 100 described above.In FIG. 10, the same central service area 100 around central node 102still exists. However, additional coverage areas, with three coverageareas 800, 802 and 804 being shown by example, are each formed aboutseparate nodes or hubs such as stations on mass transport lines. It willbe understood that separate coverage areas, similar to coverage areas800, 802 and 804, may be provided around each node or station in thetransport area or only about certain hubs or stations. Coverage areas800, 802 and 804 may be the same size as the coverage area 100 or maybesmaller or larger in coverage areas. Further, the coverage areas 800,802 and 804 can be separate from or, overlap each other and, inconjunction with the central coverage area 100 can form a singleenlarged coverage area. Transports, as distributed and described above,in the central coverage area 100 may also serve the additional coverageareas 800, 802 and 804. The distribution of the transports may betreated as a single large transport coverage area, including coverageareas 100, 800, 802 and 804, with transport roaming within the enlargedcoverage area formed by the coverage areas 100, 800, 802 and 804 andchanging which hub each transport goes to depending upon what is mostefficient in terms of customer requests, transport location, customerdestinations, customer pick up locations, time of day, etc.

The transports may be assigned and roam in the coverage area 100,including any of the overlapped areas of the coverage area 100 and thecoverage areas 800, 802, and 804, where the transports may be dedicatedto a specific coverage area 800, 802 and 804 for a primary pick-up anddelivery of customers from a pick-up point to an end destination, suchas any of the coverage areas 800, 802 and 804, or from the hubs in thecoverage areas 800, 802 and 804 to an end destination within or withoutof coverage areas 800, 802 and 804 to an end destination within orwithout the coverage areas 800, 802 and 804.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a roaming transportdistribution system to service customer requests for transportationcomprising: operating a fleet of transports in a first service zonehaving a first hub for transporting customers within the first servicezone to and from the first hub; receiving a service request from a firstcustomer at a first location in the first service zone fortransportation of the first customer to the first hub; locating onetransport of a plurality of transports in the first service zone toanswer the service request based on one or more of the first location ofthe first customer, a second location of the transport, the distancebetween the first and second locations, a travel time of the transportfrom the second location to the first location, and a travel time of thetransport with the first customer from the first location to the firsthub; sending a communication to the transport to travel to the firstlocation to pick up the first customer for transport to the first hub;creating an exclusive coverage area about each transport in the firstservice zone, the coverage areas disposed in a dynamic arrangement withadjacent transport coverage sub-areas; and directing the plurality oftransports in the first service zone to unevenly distributed locationswith non-lapping coverage areas.
 2. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: unequally distributing all transports in the first zonebased on one of population density, historic request density and trafficconditions.
 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising: after onetransport picks up the first customer at the first location, removingthe one transport from roaming in the first service zone; and relocatinga position of at least one other transport in the service zone so thatthe coverage service areas of all of the transports are disposed in adynamic arrangement to insure a predetermined transit time is met forall areas in the service zone.
 4. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: after one transport picks up the first customer at the firstlocation, removing the first transport from automatic roaming in thefirst service zone; and varying a size and/or location of the coverageareas of at least one of the transports in the service zone to meet thepredetermined transit time at all locations within the first servicezone.
 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising: choosing onetransport of the plurality of transports to answer a service requestwhere the one location of the transport relative to a customer issuing aservice request satisfies one of a minimum wait time for customerpick-up and a maximum transit time of the customer to a customer dropoff destination.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:reasserting a new transport into the first service zone andredistributing of the coverage areas of the plurality of transports inthe first service zone to insure distribution of the coverage areas inthe first service zone without overlap.
 7. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: providing a plurality of additional service zones adjacentto the first service zone; providing each additional service zone with aplurality of transports; controlling a location of each transport in atleast two of the first service zone and the additional service zones assingle service zone.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:arranging the first service zone and the additional service zones suchthat at least two of the first service zone and the additional servicezones overlap each other.
 9. A roaming transport distribution apparatusto service customer requests for transportation comprising: providing aplurality of transports in a first service zone having a first hub fortransporting customers within the first service zone to and from thefirst hub; each transport having global positioning system coordinatecapability and wireless communication capability; a controller,executing program instructions, for coordinating the coordinatepositions of each of the plurality of transports in the first servicezone and selecting transports for transporting customers in response tocustomer requests; and a controller, executing program instructions, inresponse to a location of a coverage area associated with each transportwithin the first service zone for distributing the coverage areas ofeach of the transports in the first service zone in an unevendistribution within the first service zone to insure less than a maximumpredetermined transit time for transporting a customer from a pick-uplocation to a drop off destination.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 furthercomprising: the controller wirelessly communicating directioninformation to each of the transports to optimize travel of a transportfrom a current location of the transport to a customer or from acustomer pick-up location to a customer destination.
 11. The apparatusof claim 9 further comprising: the controller, in response to removal ofa transport from the plurality of transports in a first service zonewhen the transport is answering a service request, issuing newcoordinate information to at least one other transport in the firstservice zone by wireless communication to balance a distribution of theremaining plurality of transports in the first service zone.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 9 further comprising: the controller executingprogram instructions, based on current coordinate locations of theplurality of transports remaining in roaming in the first service zone,to vary a size of the coverage area of at least one of the remainingtransports to meet transport transit times associated with responses tocustomer requests.